The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories
Highlights from the news file for Friday, Aug. 11
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OTTAWA TAKES NEW APPROACH TO QUEBEC ASYLUM SEEKERS: Twenty officials from the Immigration and Refugee Board have been assigned to focus exclusively on deciding asylum claims lodged by people crossing illegally into Quebec. The dedicated team will start hearing applications from those who arrived earlier this summer, but the decision is being driven by the exceptionally high volume of people arriving in recent days. The IRB reports that between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7 alone, 1,798 people showed up at an unofficial crossing from the U.S. into Quebec. By comparison — in all of 2015, only 2,920 claims were filed in Quebec.
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